Celebrating birthday in public

Politicians, constantly under the glare of the media, don't have much private lives. They enjoy the public attention even after shedding some important responsibilities.

I caught a glimpse of former Immigration Minister under the Howard Government and currently Liberal Party parliamentarian Mr Philip Ruddock at the mall last week. We didn't hang around longer as we're not really interested in getting a slice of the rich chocolate cake.



Was it really his birthday? Or could it some publicity stunt? Or the local council's way of garnering support their programmes graced by a VIP?

End of Line Skin Care Products

Why does it often happen that when you've found a product that suits you, the manufacturers would drop the bombshell and declare they are the end of line items and will not longer by produced in future?

The usual reasons given are :

1. unpopular, which is defined more by the vendor rather than consumers. Many popular products have been terminated.

2. they must keep products in a range, for instance, honey, orange, or seaweed, and the product can't be sold in isolation.

3. satisfying some esoteric and high principled criteria such as fair trading, organic, natural, etc.
4. not in line with the overall marketing strategy

Dim Sum - Yum Cha - Phoenix Claws / chicken feet

You don't have to pay an arm and a leg to sample "pheonix claws". The exotic name has elevated the humble deep-fried chicken feet braised in spiced soy sauce to a delicacy status. We found this suburban seafood restaurant serves well-cooked chicken feet. There wasn't any hint of rancid reused oil and salty taste.

Chicken feet are a great source of glucosamine / chondroitin which helps to strengthen your cartilage and reduce arthritic effects. So much for promoting the health benefits of chicken feet. But you just can't convince some folks to try it.